Metallic seal



(No Model.)

A. J. PHELPS.

METALLIC SEAL. No. 858,880. Patented'Mar. 8', 1887.

WITNESSES: INVBNTOR v BY ATTORNEYS N. PETERS, Photo-Lilhnflnpher. Wnhin ton. D. &

ihvrTnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREXV J. PHELPS, OF SYRACUSE, NE\V YORK.

METALLIC SEAL.

:EPECIZ-ICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 358,880, dated March 8, 1887.

Application filed October 29, 1886. Serial No. 217,500. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW J. PHELPs, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Metallic Seals, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to metallic seals designed to be applied to the tied ends of a wire or analogous binder encircling a box or package 5 and the invention consists, essentially, of a ductile or soft-metal seal having lips or flaps adapted to be folded upon the tied ends of the wire or binder and upon the nail or tack which fastens the binder to the box or package, all as hereinafter more fully described, and specifically set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an end view of a tubular seal embodying my invention, and showing the same in position preparatory to folding the lips or flaps upon the inclosed binder. Fig. 2 is a top plan View of the same. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of said seal compressed upon the inclosed ends of the binder and head of the nail or tack which fastens said binder on the box or package. Fig. 5 is an end view of said compressed seal. Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a modification of the form of the seal in its opened condition, and Fig. 7 shows the same in its folded and compressed condition.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A represents the scal,which I prefer to form of a small tube of lead or other suitable soft or ductile metal, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings,which tube Iprovide in the bottom of its central portion with a hole, 0, for the reception of the nail a, by which the wire or binder b is fastened to the box or package. The upper part of the central portion of said tube I provide with diagonal incisions, and thereby form the folding-lips u u, which are to be bent outward to form an opening, d, in the seal directly over the nail-hole 0. Said seal is designed to be jplaced in an indentation out into the surface of the box, so as to countersink the seal when compressed, as described in my prior application for Letters Patent, Serial No. 212,442, filed September 2,

1886. After the seal is placed in said indentation the nail n is to be inserted in the nailhole of the seal, and driven part way into the box. Then one end of the wireb is to be introduced into one end of the tubular seal and wound around the nail, between the head thereof and underlying portion of the seal,and drawn back through the aforesaid end of the seal and wound around the outer portion of the wire, so as to securely fasten it to the nail. Then the wire is drawn around the box and the opposite end introduced into the tubular seal from the end opposite to that which contains the fastened end of the wire. The introduced free end of the wire is then to be wound around the nail n, and back through the end of the tube, and twisted around the outer portion of the wire. The nail is then to be farther driven into the box, so as to cause the head of the nail to press the surrounding portions of the wire down onto the base of the seal. Then the lips or flaps a u are to be bent over and upon the inclosed nail-head and wire, and by means of a suitable punch said lips or flaps are to be compressed upon said inclosed parts, as represented in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

By compressing the seal, as aforesaid, the edges of the lips or flaps to become so thoroughly united to the adjacent edges of the opening (I as to effectually close said opening and present a solid surface bearing the impression of the punch. The nail with the wire ends around it is thus completely enveloped in the metal seal, and is inaccessible without injuring or destroying the impression made in the seal by the punch.

I do not, however, wish to be limited to the tubular form of the seal, inasmuch as my invention is susceptible of various modifications, one of which is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 of the annexed drawings, in which the seal is composed of a plain square disk provided at its center with a hole for the reception of the nail n, on which the ends of the wire are secured in the manner hereinbefore described, the four corners to a a u constituting the folding flaps, which are bent upon the dotted linesww, Fig. 6, and over toward the center and over the nail and wire, as indicated by dotted lines y y in Fig. 7 of the drawings.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination of a soft-metal seal having folding lips, a nail driven through the centube provided at its central portion with a :5

nail-hole in one side and with incisions in the opposite side, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and affixed my seal, in the presence 20 of two attesting Witnesses, at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York,

this 27th day of October, 1886.

ANDREW J. PHELPS. [L

Witnesses:

O. BENDIXON, O. H. DUELL. 

